Primates

By Jim Ottaviani, Maris Wicks,

Book cover of Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas

Book description

Jim Ottaviani returns with an action-packed account of the three greatest primatologists of the last century: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas. These three groundbreaking researchers were all students of the great Louis Leakey, and each made profound contributions to primatology - and to our own understanding of ourselves.…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Primates as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

A graphic novel about three intrepid, ground-breaking scientists, working far from home.

Although aimed at kids of 12+ this is well worth reading with younger kids, too. Wicks’ cartooning is clear and vivid, and Ottaviani captures the distinct voices of his three subjects beautifully. Wicks keeps the page grids simple and uses colour effectively to tell the reader which of her subjects they’re ‘hearing’ on the page.

It’s easy to follow and the ethological work of Goodall, Fossey, and Galdikas truly benefits from comics’ ability to depict sequential movement and, in this case, behaviour.

Bonus: Wicks worked on a book…

From Deshan's list on kids’ reads about women in science.

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